Our take: No team is exempt from losing in the NFL and the fans need to realize that. This is another story that sounds like a list of excuses for people not coming to the games. Every team in that particular area struggles with ticket sales despite fielding winners. If it was management’s fault, why did a 10-6 team black out all eight home games last season? Perhaps the fans should stop blaming ownership and either support the team or don’t complain when they go to Los Angeles or London.

Tebow vs. Elway

In a 102.3 The Ticket radio interview yesterday, Broncos V.P. of Personnel John Elway was asked if he was closer now to figuring out his quarterback situation for the long-term than he was five weeks ago and answered, “no.” The greatest Denver Bronco of all-time is now public enemy number one as many fans can’t see why the Hall of Fame quarterback doesn’t believe that Tim Tebow has the requisite skills to be a championship quarterback. According to this report, Tebow isn’t paying much attention to the criticism.

Brunell Gets First-Team Snaps In NY

The New York Jets and head coach Rex Ryan are playing a little “motivational roulette” as they decided to give 41-year old backup quarterback Mark Brunell some first-team snaps this week in practice, according to Pro Football Talk. Third-year signal caller Mark Sanchez has navigated the Jets to just a 5-5 record after leading the franchise to two AFC title game appearances in his first two seasons.

Our take: This is clearly a motivational ploy to get Mark Sanchez to play better, but he’s not the only problem with the Jets. Rex Ryan shouted from the mountaintops that his team was going to the Super Bowl this year but if the playoffs were to begin today, they wouldn’t be part of it. Ryan is using Sanchez as his scapegoat.

Our take: The remaining roughly $3 million that a team would be responsible for could be a huge deterrent for go-nowhere teams like Indianapolis, Washington, Seattle and Arizona, even if Orton would represent an upgrade. As much as the Minnesota Vikings might hate the Chicago Bears, they won’t spend that sort of money to keep Chicago from potentially securing a playoff berth. Kansas City and Chicago remain the two best options, with Dallas and Atlanta being potential spoilers as both trail the Bears in the Wildcard race.

Charlie Bernstein is the NFL Insider for ESPNFlorida.com and ESPN 1080 and 1040 in Orlando/Tampa and Editor-in-Chief of Sports Media Interactive, covering the National Football League, NCAA, and National Basketball Association. Charlie covers the Jacksonville Jaguars for FoxSports and has been featured on the NFL Network and Sirius NFL Radio. Charlie is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Charlie on Twitter @nflcharlie